Must-Have Back to School Gadgets: 5 Smart Picks for Every Budget

It doesn’t matter what grade your child is going into this fall — there’s at least one high-tech tool they’ll both want and need this year. But with the average American spending some $700 per young student and $1,000 on college-age kids for back-to-school supplies, how do you tech out your kids without breaking the bank? Here are five smart picks for every budget.

Computers are to school-age kids today what #2 pencils were to us — a must-have, plain and simple. Sure, your child can rely on the school or library computers, but not for long. According to a recent survey, computers become a significant part of homework around age 10.

The best tech foundation for kids of all ages is still a good family desktop PC like the HP Envy 23. It’s important to have a computer that parents and kids can use together as a main hub for teaching responsible and safe tech activity in the home. Set up in the family or living room, the HP Envy 23 is a powerful, space-saving, all-in-one Windows PC. It has all the core programs students need for homework, plus all the bells and whistles like HP Magic Canvas, Beats Audio, and HP LinkUp.

A side note here: I was able to set up this entire desktop, from opening the box to surfing the web, in less than five minutes. Kind of amazing.

In general, when it comes to choosing a laptop for a student, you’ll want to look at:

Price:There are a great many models out today for less than $1,000.

Size:Get something lightweight, that slips easily in and out of a book bag or backpack.

Battery life:Look for something that can do a lot of work on a single charge. Six hours is a minimum.

Processor:Look for a powerful Intel processor — it can make the difference between watching TV like normal on your laptop and having the screen stutter and stop every few minutes.

Future-proof: A laptop should have both style and substance, be rugged enough to withstand the real world, and have enough memory (6GB or 8GB of RAM) to allow photo and video storage.

Don’t forget that students get big discounts on most electronics this time of year, and there are big deals to be had by shopping refurbished models.

3. Portable Hard Drive: Seagate Backup PlusPrice: $100 and up

Another must-have for back-to-school technology is a safety net — a way to back up your files. One in every four people today lose digital data. You’ve likely been there yourself. You slave away on a term paper or important document, only to have it crash in the final minutes before it’s due. Or even worse, your laptop is lost or stolen, and all of your photos, homework files, and everything else is gone with it.

This year, I’m recommending the brand new Seagate Backup Plus portable drives, because they are packed with new ways protect, share, and save nearly every aspect of your precious digital life. You can back up to the hard drive and to the cloud, getting the best of both worlds with a double layer of protection. It’s also the first external hard drive to provide backup for content on social networks such as Facebook and Flickr.

If you have the budget for an iPad, you’ll find it’s an amazing tool for learning, especially with the newest productivity, note taking, and educational apps. But at several hundred dollars each, it’s an expensive gadget to hand over to a young person who might break it, lose it, or use it to play video games rather than log onto the Kahn Academy for homework help. So I put tablets in the “want,” not the “need” category.

But one gadget that comes in really handy for students of all ages is the simple, affordable Kindle. It comes with access to a library’s worth of loaner books and built-in wifi, and it lets you highlight text. It’s small enough to fit in a back pocket or slip into a backpack. Also great for moms of pre-K to teen students, Amazon editors’ picks can guide you to the right books based on age and skill level.

5. Smartphones:Various modelsPrice: $99 and up

A smart buy for an older student is a prepaid, no-contract smartphone like the Virgin Mobile HTC One V. It’s a powerful, top-quality Android smartphone that doesn’t chain you to a two-year contract. That means you have a lot of control over exactly how much money you spend each month, and you can save money versus a two-year contract plan. The HTC One V has a great digital camera and Beats Audio and comes with a free Dropbox storage subscription. I also like the Samsung Galaxy Note for being able to scribble notes on this hybrid tablet/smartphone, as well as the Motorola Razr Maxx and the AT&T Motorola Atrix 4G.

There’s a growing consensus that most kids today are ready for a cell phone somewhere between the ages of 11 and 13. But parents, I beg you, please don’t hand over a smartphone to a child and walk away. That’s like giving your car keys to an 8-year-old and wishing them luck on the freeway. Smartphones can connect you with your children, but they can also connect your children with strangers, inappropriate content, and even predators. If you’ve decided your student needs a smartphone, take the time to set up parental controls (do it before you leave the store), block inappropriate apps, and consider installing a safety feature like K-9 Web Protection.

No parent left behind

Before you load your kids up with the latest technology, be sure to bring yourself up to speed. I know it’s overwhelming, but spend 10 minutes a day brushing up on all things connected kids and digital parenting. Take gadgets such as smartphones, laptops, and gaming devices out of your child’s bedroom, especially at night. Pay attention to their tech habits, and encourage a sense of balance and moderation. Remember, you’re their most important teacher, so model good digital behavior. Technology is an amazing tool. But it still can’t replace an inspiring teacher, the lessons learned from the world around us, or just plain good parenting.